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General Forums => Generic Discussion => Topic started by: ggg on July 25, 2012, 11:15:53 AM

Title: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: ggg on July 25, 2012, 11:15:53 AM
I bought from a chemistry shop some Magnesium Carbonate. The chemist says me it's pure Magnesium Carbonate and pharmaceutical. I know M. Carbonate is the E504 that is used in Foods.

I want to ask can i use M. Carbonate that i bought from Chemistry shop for foods and internal uses (400 mg per day) or maybe it isn't clean from other metals? Thank u all. ^_^
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: AWK on July 25, 2012, 11:21:25 AM
Pharmaceutical usually means high purity (magnesium carbonate)
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: ggg on July 25, 2012, 11:37:04 AM
Pharmaceutical usually means high purity (magnesium carbonate)

Thank u very much for your answer. For that i didn't know - other say me must buy M. Carbonate from pharmacy because yes it's pure but it's not for internal uses because it's a chemical and maybe has other metals on it, others say me it's very good to use that because it's pure and pharmaceutical and it's not only chalk. I'm confuse. :(
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: fledarmus on July 25, 2012, 12:18:03 PM
Unfortunately, "pharmaceutical grade" does not have a very clear definition. In most cases, it refers to material which meet the manufacturing standards for purity defined by the compound monograph in the USP national formulary (http://www.usp.org/usp-nf), but this formulary does not have a monograph for every known compound. In other cases, it refers to material that is produced specifically for the purpose of formulating into drugs, so it must be free of materials which would have biological effects unrelated to the active ingredient. So not necessarily fewer impurities, but quite possibly different impurities.

Neither the FDA nor the NIH have a definition for "pharmaceutical grade", although both of these, and many other government agencies, have regulations against the use of "non-pharmaceutical grade" chemicals in many applications.

For your specific purposes, pharmaceutical grade magnesium carbonate sold from a chemistry shop will be the same as the pharmaceutical grade magnesium carbonate sold in food stores, supplement stores, or drugstores. It may not be the purest available form of magnesium carbonate available, but it should be free of known toxic substances and manufactured according to good practices.
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: discodermolide on July 25, 2012, 12:18:22 PM
Pharmaceutical usually means high purity (magnesium carbonate)

Thank u very much for your answer. For that i didn't know - other say me must buy M. Carbonate from pharmacy because yes it's pure but it's not for internal uses because it's a chemical and maybe has other metals on it, others say me it's very good to use that because it's pure and pharmaceutical and it's not only chalk. I'm confuse. :(

If it is pharmaceutical grade it should be OK to use.
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: Arkcon on July 25, 2012, 12:56:08 PM
To summarize a bit what fledarmus: said, "Pharmaceutical" or "Food Grade" reagents have been determined to be free of things that could injure a living thing, or a human if ingested.  It's safe to use as a Doctor prescribes.  If, from the same chemical supplier, for found "chemically pure" or "analytical grade" and you saw the % purity listed on the bottle was comparable or better, that does not mean that its certified safe to consume.  The traces of impurities may very well be dangerous.

I remember once, for an experiment, we needed a large amount of citric acid, for a dialysis.  Food grade was cheaper in quantity, so we went with that.  The stuff was visibly brown in color, and had, what looked to me, like wood chips in it.  Still, food grade, so "yum."
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: ggg on July 25, 2012, 12:56:30 PM
first i want to thank u very very much for your time :D Really.

Seller gave me the card from him order. He has bought a ton of "Pure Magnesium Carbonate". After that he said me has sell only pharmaceutical magnesium Carbonate and pure means that is clean from toxic materials so i can try it for internal uses.

Sorry for my question again. I ask again bcs pharmaceutical and pure are not the same word as i can understand. Maybe in my country translate pharmaceutical and pure as "Καθαρή". "Καθαρή" does mean pure but can mean and pharmaceutical. But Pharmaceutical is high pure as you said me so let's take the bad scenario if it's labeled only as Pure can use it for foods or internal uses?
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: ggg on July 25, 2012, 01:01:43 PM
To summarize a bit what fledarmus: said, "Pharmaceutical" or "Food Grade" reagents have been determined to be free of things that could injure a living thing, or a human if ingested.  It's safe to use as a Doctor prescribes.  If, from the same chemical supplier, for found "chemically pure" or "analytical grade" and you saw the % purity listed on the bottle was comparable or better, that does not mean that its certified safe to consume.  The traces of impurities may very well be dangerous.

I remember once, for an experiment, we needed a large amount of citric acid, for a dialysis.  Food grade was cheaper in quantity, so we went with that.  The stuff was visibly brown in color, and had, what looked to me, like wood chips in it.  Still, food grade, so "yum."

For truth the card that he saw me said Pure but after he said me it's pharmaceutical. That's because pharmaceutical m. carbonate is pure but pure maybe doesn't pharmaceutical (?) I don't know if he knew the difference.

haahah it was really food grade the citric acid that you use? :p
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: fledarmus on July 25, 2012, 01:37:43 PM
Let me give you just one example illustrative of the difference between "pure" and "pharmaceutical grade". If you buy "pure" ethanol, typically it will be greater than 99% ethanol, but the other one percent could very well be things like methanol and isopropanol that you certainly would not want to ingest. On the other hand, if you bought pharmaceutical grade ethanol, chances are that it would be no more than 95% ethanol, but the other 5% would be water - perfectly safe to ingest. The pharmaceutical grade ethanol wouldn't be pure enough for my esterification reactions, for example, but it is adequately pure and safe to consume for pharmaceuticals.
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: ggg on July 25, 2012, 04:01:35 PM
fledarmus ty for your info vr much. So for that you say bcs m. carbonate that i bought was Pure in the papers and Pharmaceutical from sellers info isn't good for internal use or is?
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: fledarmus on July 25, 2012, 04:35:07 PM
We cannot advise you on whether or not you should be consuming any compound. Pharmaceutical grade should mean that the compound is suitable for use in drugs, but as far as I know, there is no certification process or organization that enforces that distinction. How much do you trust the seller? And for that matter, how much do you trust the supplement sellers who sell the product you would otherwise be using?
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: ggg on July 25, 2012, 04:47:48 PM
I trust him bcs before some weeks i ask him if i can use for internal use an oil that he has. It was litle expensive but he said me i can't use it for that. So i think i trust him bcs he didn't say me again that thing. The only thing that i don't know is if in him brain didn't know the difference between pure and pharmaceutical. :( bcs as you said pure it don't recommended for that i want ;(

generally i don't trust sellers. :(
Title: Re: Magnesium Carbonate
Post by: AWK on July 27, 2012, 04:28:53 AM
http://tuoruida.en.made-in-china.com/product/SbrmsGpOfKRd/China-High-Purity-Basic-Magnesium-Carbonate-MGCO3-.html
http://www.signetchem.com/downloads/datasheets/Scora/Light-MgCO3-EP-USP-JP-specifications.pdf
Magnesium carbonate always contains some amounts of  basic magnesium carbonate (3MgCO3.Mg(OH)2.3H2O)